Photos Show Harvey Disaster Getting Worse

Aviation at the center of the destruction and the rescue operation

By Plane & Pilot

The devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey just keeps getting worse. As of Tuesday, the Hurricane is regrouping in the Gulf for another run at Texas, Louisiana and possibly Arkansas. And more airports are being impacted by the storm. On Monday evening, the Army Corps of Engineers started releasing water from the rapidly rising Addicks and Barker reservoirs, resulting in a tremendous amount of water being released downstream. By Tuesday afternoon an estimated 3,000 homes were flooded.

West Houston Airport. Courtesy of Sarah Rovner

West Houston Airport, which had been used for emergency flights into and out of the city, was soon under water, too. Sarah Rovner, an airline pilot and ferry pilot who lives near Houston, shared images of the ramp and terminal building at KIWS, reporting that the terminal building was “almost under water” and that water was rising up around the wheels of the many small planes parked at the airport. Rovner, who on Tuesday worked with friends to rescue a family trapped by floodwaters, said her plane’s wheels are already underwater, and hopes that the waters don’t rise higher.

West Houston Airport terminal. Courtesy of Sarah Rovner

We’ve also gotten a number of additional photographs of the destruction in Rockport, which was hit by the initial landfall of the storm. Bob Mutina, whose father was close to finishing an RV-10 in his hangar at Rockport, shared the before-Harvey and after-Harvey photos of his father’s plane, along with photographs of a friend’s Piper Seneca twin. Because the airport had been evacuated in advance of Harvey, there were no injuries there.

RV-10 in Rockport before the storm. Courtesy of Bob MutinaSame RV-10 after the hurricane. Courtesy of Bob Mutina

With more storms expected on Wednesday, Houston is bracing for an additional round of rainfall, this after the city has gotten more rainfall than any place in the continental United States since record keeping began.

Several GA groups are working to bring supplies to Houston in small planes. AOPA reported that some GA groups have started supply flights. Remote Area Medical has already begun setting up an operations headquarters north of Houston. But with so many GA airfields completely or partially underwater and with more rain on the way, GA’s avenues to provide airlift support remain limited, for now at least.

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